About the High Line

The High Line is a new public park, built on an elevated 1930s rail structure located on Manhattan's West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street. The first section of the High Line opened to the public in June 2009. The High Line is property of the City of New York, and is maintained and operated by the non-profit Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

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Today, a new accolade! For the first time, an article about the High Line made it to the “most-emailed” list on the New York Times web site.

The article, called “The High Line: A Railway Out of Manhattan”, captures the special atmosphere up on the line– “almost a small town in the air… It even inspires crusty New Yorkers to behave as if they were strolling down Main Street.”

As a park visitor explained in the article: “Here people tend to be more friendly… Those same people, you might see them someplace else and, you know,” she broke off, raising her eyebrows, “they’re kind of stressed.”

[Peter Brown, Author/Illustrator, demonstrates his technique at a reading for elementary school students]

This Sunday’s New York Times Book Review featured a review of its current #2 best-selling children’s book: The Curious Garden, a lushly illustrated tale of a boy who finds an expanse of flowers and plants growing in the most unlikely of places: an abandoned elevated rail line.

In last week’s Book Review podcast, author and illustrator Peter Brown talks about his inspiration for the story: the High Line, “this lush, wild garden area that was taking care of itself. It was really this pretty miraculous site. And so when I discovered that place, when I first moved to New York, I decided that I wanted to make a book about nature living in the city in sort of an unlikely way.”

You can listen to the interview here. If you missed the readings at 192 Books and Books of Wonder, check out Peter Brown’s web site for information on upcoming readings.

[Robert Hammond, left, and Josh David on the High Line. Photo by Oscar Hidalgo for the Times.]

On the 1999 Community Board meeting where the two met, and first learned about the High Line:

ALTHOUGH neither had previously experienced a deep emotional or aesthetic connection to the structure — or, to be honest, any connection at all — the notion of it being eliminated from the cityscape in the interest of cookie-cutter development had struck them as heretical. Shortsighted, too.

“I fell in love with the very thing most people were complaining about, this rusty eyesore from the city’s industrial past,” says Mr. Hammond. “I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve a mile and a half of Manhattan as an uninterrupted walkway and vantage point for people to enjoy on their own terms.”

[Left, National Geographic magazine; Right, Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times]

Some of you may have seen this story in last Friday’s Real Estate section of the Times. While the High Line park will begin at Gansevoort and Washington, few people know that the High Line originally went as far south as St. John’s Park Terminal, which covered four riverfront blocks between Clarkson and Spring Streets. (It’s now a UPS warehouse.) In the 1960’s, the High Line below Gansevoort was demolished, with the exception of the little section of rail running through the Westbeth complex, on Washington between Bank and Bethune.

For the very first time that we are aware of, the High Line was featured in a New York Times Editorial. In it, America’s paper of record challenges the City and Tishman Speyer to seize the opportunity provided by the development rights to the West Side Rail Yards and to do the right thing and “preserve all of the High Line, the 1.5-mile stretch of elevated railway that is being transformed into a green jewel of public space.”

There was considerable pride and a few tears as we read this unprecedented shout-out by the Times.

The development process for the West Side Rail Yards could be on the verge of an important milestone, which comes as a surprise to many who assumed this process would be slowed in the wake of economic uncertainty and the recent shakeup in state government.

The New York Timesreported this weekend that the MTA is close to choosing a bidder for the 26-acre site, Manhattan’s largest development plot. Of the five developers who originally bid on the rail yards site, only two are still being considered. Charles Bagli of the Times names the bid by Tishman Speyer as the favorite and quotes real estate executives as saying that the MTA will likely make a recommendation at its board meeting this Wednesday. Also in the running is a joint venture by the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust.

According to the article, The Related Companies, considered by many to be the front-runner, lost some ground last week when Newscorp, their anchor tenant, pulled out. Extell also withdrew its bid last week, and Brookfield Properties withdrew in late February, though they are still open to teaming with another developer on the site.

Both Tishman Speyer and Durst/Vornado have said they support at least partial preservation of the High Line at the rail yards, but both developer plans include demolition of sections of the structure. Tishman Speyer’s plan proposes keeping the entire structure except for the spur over Tenth Avenue at 30th Street, while Durst/Vornado’s plan tears down the spur, along with the entire portion of the structure along Twelfth Avenue. Friends of the High Line has met with both developer teams during this process, and we’ve made the case for full preservation of the High Line. The MTA has stated that preserving the High Line is its preference, as long as it doesn’t hinder construction or prove cost-prohibitive.

Friends of the High Line is also beginning to work with our new governor, David Patterson, on this issue. We’ve been in touch with the governor’s staff, and we’re confident he will be a strong ally in the movement to preserve the entire High Line. Governor Paterson has a strong environmental record and a proven interest in listening to community concerns regarding large-scale developments. We look forward to working with the new governor on our most important advocacy issue, and we will continue to work with the MTA and their selected developer to ensure the High Line’s full preservation.

Tishman is one of four remaining bidders for the site, (Brookfield Properties dropped out last week) and, until today, was one of three with an anchor tenant.

Related has secured Newscorp and Durst-Vornado is working with Conde Nast on their bid. Extell is the remaining bidder with no major tenant backing going into the bidding process. While Tishman is not out of the race officially, MTA execs have made their preference for bids with anchor tenants known.

Morgan Stanley’s retreat is yet another sign of the increasing trepidation among would-be investors in this mega-site. Given the uncertain future of the real estate market, it’s no surprise that bidders are hesitant about this enormous investment. According to the Times,

The winning bidder will have to put up $20 million immediately and complete a final contract within four months, when it must make a $100 million down payment. The transportation authority expects that it will take 18 months after that to prepare the property for construction, and two to three years and about $1.5 billion to build platforms and foundations over the railyards.

The MTA maintains that a bidder will be chosen by the middle of March.